CHAPTER 2: PHONETICS

DEFINITION OF PHONETICS & SOUNDS

• Phone&cs is the study of how speech sounds are produced and what their proper&es
are.
• Sounds in language are called phones or speech sounds & their number is finite.

THE SPEECH ORGANS

Three basic components used to produce speech sounds :
1. Larynx (voice box), containing the vocal folds (or vocal cords).
2. Vocal tract above the larynx, composing of the pharynx & the oral and nasal cavi&es.
§ Primary organ of the vocal tract: the tongue
§ It can be moved into different places and different shapes.
§ There are six areas of the tongue: &p, blade, front, center, back, and root
3. SubgloIal system below the larynx, which is part of the respiratory system.

THE PHONETIC ALPHABET

• As sounds and leIers are very different, linguists have invented a phoneIc alphabet, a
system for wri&ng speech sounds.
• Wri&ng down speech sounds by using a phone&c alphabet is called phoneIc
transcripIon.

THE CONSONANTS
• Consonants are speech sounds made by a narrowing somewhere in the vocal tract,
which obstructs the flow of air from the lungs.
• Three aspects of consonants’ ar&culatory proper&es:
1. Voicing: whether the vocal folds vibrate or not
2. Place of arIculaIon: where the vocal tract is made narrow
3. Manner of arIculaIon: how close together or far apart the ar&culators are

THE VOWELS
• Vowels are speech sounds made with no significant obstruc&on of the air flow.
• Vowels are usually voiced
 • Vowels form the basis of syllables → to count how many syllables in a word, count the
number of vowels
• A diphthong = combina&on of two sounds, a vowel and a glide
• There are four aspects of vowel ar&cula&on:
1. Tongue height – whether the tongue is raised, lowered or in mid posi&on
2. Tongue advancement - whether the tongue moves forward, backward, or is in
normal posi&on
3. Lip rounding
4. Tenseness – whether there is more tension of the tongue & lips

THE WORD STRESS

• Stressed syllables become more prominent than unstressed ones: they are usually
higher in pitch, louder, and longer in dura&on.
• In contrast, unstressed syllables are less prominent; they usually contain vowels that are
reduced and pronounced as [ə] or some&mes as [ɪ].

THE INTONATION
• Intona&on is the paIern of rises and falls in pitch.
 CHAPTER 3 – PHONOLOGY
I. Phonology:
1. Defini(on: The study of paIerns of sounds in a language & how those different
sounds are related & combined
2. Aims: + Discover sound paIerns – both simple and complex
+ Find out the general principles underlying the paIerns of sounds across
all languages
(O’ Grady et al. 2001)
II. Phonemes & Allophones:
1. Phonemes: abstract mental representa&ons of sounds & be associated with one/
more sounds
Ex: fish /fɪʃ/ => /f/, /ɪ/, /ʃ/: phonemes
2. Allophones: different ways of pronouncing a single phoneme depending on the
context in which it occurs
Ex: [th], [t] and [r] are allophones of the same phoneme /t/

=> 3 different ways of pronouncing the phoneme /t/ in different phone&c

environments.
3. Distribu(on of Phonemes & Allophones:
Distribu&on of a sound = Possible phone&c environments
i.e. various posi&ons in a word
where the sound can occur
A. Distribu(on of phonemes:
Phonemes = contras&ve sounds
+ Phonemes: are in contras(ve distribu(on
à Replacing one with the other in a word à change the meaning of the
word (i.e. crea&ng a different word)
B. Minimal pair: a pair of sounds with dis&nct meanings that differ only in one
sound in the same posi&on.
Ex:
Tick & pick
Cat & cap
Stray & spray
If 2 sounds occur in a minimal pair, they:
→ are contras(ve sounds
 → represent different phonemes in the language
C. Distribu(on of allophones:
Allophones of a given word → cannot create different words
+ Allophones: non-contras&ve (b/c interchanging them → not result in a
change of a word’s meaning)
Þ In complementary distribu(on (=mutually exclusive)
Þ Not appear in the same phone&c environment

Ex: [th] & [t] in English: non-contras&ve sounds (not contrast meaning)
+ Allophones of a single morpheme Þ some&mes occur in free varia(on (=
appear in the same phone&c environment >< not cause a difference in a
word’s meaning)
Ex: when producing /t/ in word-final posi&on
Þ Pronounced as an unaspirated [t]
Þ Pronounced with lips closed & [t] sound unreleased
(unreleased t ̚ )

III. Phonological rules:

1. Defini(on: tell how a single phoneme is pronounced differently in different
environments
2. Two levels of phonological representaIons:
+ Phonemic representaIons:
+ consist of phonemes
+ » speakers’ mental representa&ons
of sounds
+ PhoneIc representaIons:
+ contain allophones
+ reflects what speakers know about
the actual pronuncia&on of each
individual sound in a specific posi&on
in a word
3. Phonological processes:
 Assimilation A sound becomes more similar to a neighboring sound.
Dissimilation A sound becomes less similar to a neighboring sound.
Insertion A sound is inserted.

Deletion A sound is deleted.

Metathesis The order of sounds is reversed.

Strengthening A sound becomes stronger.

Weakening A sound becomes weaker.

IV. Syllables:
1. Syllables:
+ a phonological unit that is made up of one or more phonemes
+ the bigger unit of phonological representa&on than phonemes & allophones
2. Elements in a syllable:
+ A nucleus: the core of the syllable (usually a vowel) Þ most sonorant & audible
sound
+ An onset: a consonant preceding the nucleus
+ A coda: a consonant following the nucleus
Þ Nucleus + coda = rime
3. Some examples of syllable structures commonly found include:
+ Minimum syllable: a syllable = a single vowel Þ acts as the nucleus: about
/əˈbaʊt/
+ A syllable = one onset consonant + a nucleus vowel: easy /ˈiːzi/
+ A syllable = a nucleus vowel + one coda consonant: at /æt/
+ A syllable = one onset consonant + a nucleus vowel + one coda consonant:
barley /ˈbɑːrli/
4. Consonant clusters: Sequences of adjacent consonants occurring ini&ally or finally
in a syllable
Ex: play /pleɪ/, lists /lɪsts/
 CHAPTER 4: MORPHOLOGY
1. MORPHEMES

1.1 Definition of Morpheme

• It is a word or part of a word that has meaning.
• It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts without violation of its meaning or
without meaningless remainders.
• It recurs in different verbal environments with a relatively stable meaning.’ [Stageberg,
1965: 85]

1.2. MORPHEMES vs. PHONEMES

A morpheme differs from a phoneme in that the former has meaning whereas the latter does not.
Although phonemes have no meaning, they have distinctive features that help to distinguish
meaning.

1.3. MORPHEMES vs. WORDS

Words are made up of morphemes. In other words, morphemes are the constituents of words.

2. CLASSIFICATION OF MORPHEMES

2.1 BOUND MORPHEMES vs. FREE MORPHEMES

FREE MORPHEMES

• A free morpheme is ‘one that can be uttered alone with meaning’.

• A free morpheme ‘can be used on its own’.

• Free morphemes ‘may stand alone as words in their own right, as well as

enter into the structure of other words’.

BOUND MORPHEMES

• A bound morpheme ‘cannot be uttered alone with meaning. It is always annexed to one
or more morphemes to form a word’.

[Stageberg, 1965: 87]

• A bound morpheme ‘is never used alone but must be used with another morpheme’.

[Richards, Platt & Weber, 1987: 31]

• Bound morphemes ‘may occur only if they combine with another morpheme’.
2.2 INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES - DERIVATIONAL MORPHEMES

INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES, ‘which are always suffixes in English, perform a grammatical function;
they are representatives of grammatical categories’.

DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES, ‘which may be prefixes or suffixes in English, have a lexical function;
they create new words out of existing words or morphemes by their addition’.

3. VARIATIONS OF MORPHEMES — ALLOMORPHS

3.1 DEFINITION

An allomorph is ‘any of the different forms of a morpheme’.

3.2 TYPES OF ALLOMORPHS

• ADDITIVE ALLOMORPH: To signify some difference in meaning, something is added to a

word

Ex: ask ==> asked

• REPLACIVE ALLOMORPH: To signify some difference in meaning, a sound is used to

replace another sound in a word

Ex: drink ==> drank

• SUBTRACTIVE ALLOMORPH: To signify some difference in meaning, something is deleted

from a word.

Ex: duchess ==> duke

• SUPPLETIVE ALLOMORPHS: To signify some difference in meaning, there is a complete

change in the shape of a word.

Ex: go ==> went

 • ZERO ALLOMORPHS: There is no change in the shape of a word though some difference in
meaning is identified.

Ex: hurt ==> hurt (s. past)

4. WORD FORMATION PROCESSES

 CHAPTER 5: SYNTAX
• It is the study of the construction of sentences.
• It’s mainly concerned about the organization of words and phrases in sentences.
• There is no limit on the number of words in a sentence.
• A new sentence can be continuously created simply by adding one or more
element to an existing one.
• The component of the grammar concerned with speakers’ knowledge of the rules
governing the way sentences are constructed.
• Every sentence is a sequence of words, but not a sequence of words is a sentence.

I. Syntactic Categories of Words

• Words = The most fundamental elements of sentence structure
Are classified into syntactic categories = grammatical categories
• The smallest units of syntactic analysis are words sharing some semantic,
morphological and syntactic properties in common.
• Words that belong to the same grammatical category share some common
properties.
• A word may belong to more than one category and it requires careful
consideration to identify its category.
• Grammatical categories = Lexical categories + Non-lexical categories

• Lexical Categories = semantic + morphological + syntactic properties

• Non-lexical categories
A common way to identify words of non- lexical categories is by making
reference to their grammatical function and their distribution in a sentence.
o Determiners: (definiteness & quantity of N)
Articles, Demonstratives, Possessives, Quantifiers, Numerals
o Auxiliary Verbs: (tense, aspect, modality of V)
Be, Do, Have, Modal Verbs
o Prepositions: Relationship between two entities (in time and space)
o Conjunctions: (connect words, phrases, clauses)
Coordinators and Subordinators
o Degree Words: indicate gradation, degree of adjectives and adverbs
o Qualifiers: indicate how often an event take place
o Pronouns: Words whose reference is determined by an element in the
context in which they are used.
Personal Pro., Reflexive Pro., Reciprocal Pro., Demonstrative Pro.,
Indefinite Pro., Relative Pro., Interrogative Pro.
II. Subcategories within Lexical Categories
• Subcategories of Nouns: countable, uncountable, abstract, concrete
• Subcategories of Verbs:
o Intransitive: S – V – NO Direct object – (modifier)
o Transitive: S – V - Direct object – (modifier)
o Ditransitive: S – V – Indirect object – Direct object
o Linking: S – V – Complement – (modifier)
• Subcategories of Adjectives:
o Stative: more permanent qualities / not occur in progressive aspect
o Non-stative: occur in progressive aspect / used in imperative sentences
• Subcategories of Adverbs:
o Adj + -ly
o Adv with no marker

III. Categories and Structure of Phrases

• Heads: the most important element in a phrase

• Specifiers: help “make the meaning of the head more precise”
 • Complements: provide “information about entities and locations whose
existence is implied by the meaning of the head”
• Modifiers: provide an additional or optional property to the head”
• The specifiers usually precede the head, and the complements follow the head.

IV. Constituents Tests

• Words are organized into natural, semantically coherent groupings.
Groupings = constituents
• The Question - Answer Test: (who – what – where –when – why – how …)
• The Substitution Test: (pronouns – adverbs)
• The Coordination Test: (and – but – or)
• The Movement Test

V. Analyzing Sentences
 CHAPTER 6: SEMANTICS
Defini&on
- The subfield of linguis&cs studying meaning communicated through language is called
seman&cs.
- Seman&cs is the study of meaning; concerned with the meaning of words and sentences , the
meaning rela&onship, and the conceptual system underlying meaning.
- Seman&cs is the study of meaning; concerned with the meaning of words and sentences, the
meaning rela&onship, and the conceptual system underlying meaning.

Majors BRANCHES of seman&cs

- Seman&cs is devided into two major branches: lexical seman&cs and composi&onal seman&cs.
- One major branches of seman&cs concerned with the meaning of words and the rela&onships
among words in terma of meaning is lexical seman&cs.
- Composi&onal seman&cs is one major branches of seman&cs, which is also called phrasal and
senten&al seman&cs.
- Phrasal and senten&al seman&cs involves the meanings of phrases and sentences and how
these lingtuis&c units are seman&cally ralated.

OBJECTIVES of seman&cs TYPES of meaning

One of the objec&ves of seman&cs is making speakers’ knowledge about the meanings of
uIerances explicit.
One of the objec&ves of seman&cs is iden&fying all the ways in which speakers mean when
using the language.
To be paraphrases, the two sentences must have the same meaning with true condi&on in all
situa&ons.

TYPES of meaning
- The three types of meaning are referen&al meaning, affec&ve meaning, and social meaning.
- The meaning of words/ sentences, which is showed through how they relate to actual
situa&ons, is known as referen&al meaning.
- Affec&ve meaning conveys a speaker’s feelings, aqtudes, or opinions.
- Slim and skinny are similar in referen&al meaning but different in affec&ve meaning.
- A sentence can convey the informa&on about the iden&ty of the speaker through his own way
of using different linguis&cs strategies. That is the social meaning meaning of language.
- Referen&al meaning of an uIerance is usually called its denota&on, which refer to or describe
the real objects.
- The three types of meanings are generally divided into two classes: denota&on and
connota&on.
- Act and ac&on can be used to illustrate for syntac&cal rela&on between words.
- SEA and SEE is an example of phone&cal rela&on between words.
- Construc&onal meaning is a par&cular meaning derived from structural paIern of sentences.

SYNONYM
- A term is said to be synonymous with term B when the referent of A is the referent of B, and
vice versa.

Antonyms can be categorized into three groups, complementary antonyms, gradable antonyms,
and reverse antonyms.